1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to polymer particles comprising polysiloxane (hereinafter referred to as "polysiloxane-composite polymer particles"). The polymer particles possess excellent water resistance, weatherability, adhesion, flexing resistance, and the like, and are useful as water paints, coating agents, carpet packing material, floor polishing agents, cementing medium, and the like.
2. Description of the Background Art
Polysiloxane has superior resistances against heat, water, organic chemicals, acids, and alkalis, as well as excellent weatherability. It also exhibits outstanding adhesion to inorganic materials. Thus, it is widely used as a coating agent and the like (e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-open (kokai) No. 39691/1977).
Polysiloxane, however, possesses only poor mutual solubility with other hydrocarbon polymeric compounds, so that its advantages are very hard to exhibit when used in conjunction with such hydrocarbon polymeric compounds. This is the reason that the use of polysiloxane is limited.
In order to overcome this problem and to expand the fields in which polysiloxane is used, a method has been proposed to prepare a polysiloxane-polymer complex by dispersing polysiloxane having a low molecular weight in a medium and mixing the dispersion with other organic polymers, followed by removal of the dispersion medium. Problems in this method are that only few suitable dispersion mediums are is available and further that the addition of a dispersion adjuvant is required in order to keep the composition stable for a long period of time. In addition, such a dispersion adjuvant lowers the mutual solubility of polysiloxane and organic polymers. Another problem is that polysiloxane and organic polymers having inherently poor mutual solubility produce an unhomogeneous blend, rendering the removal of dispersing medium therefrom difficult.
Japanese Patent Laid-open (kokai) Nos. 370/1985, 110170/1980, 9463/1986, etc. disclose organic polymers prepared by the copolymerization of silane compounds having polymerizable unsaturated groups. The amount of silane compounds to be copolymerized, however, is limited and it is impossible to produce polymer particles having sufficient water resistance and weatherability.
Thus, there have been no methods by which polysiloxane having various advantageous characteristics but exhibiting poor mutual solubility with organic polymers is homogeneously composed in organic polymers.